A photographer hailing from North Glasgow has won a new award from beer favourites Tennent's Light to capture the 'real Maryhill'.
Michael Rankin, a 24-year-old photographer from Glasgow's west end, has been chosen as one of the three creatives to win cash and debut their work in the Tennent’s Light the SpotLight Project
The project is a three-year commitment to invest 3.5% of every pint and bottle sold to support Scotland’s up and coming, grassroots creative talent. Out of almost 1,000 entrants, five creatives have been chosen, spanning industries including music, sustainable fashion, film, photography and skateboarding.
They each receive £5k funding to be spent on their craft and one-to-one mentoring sessions from three leaders on Scotland’s cultural scene - fashion designer Hayley Scanlan, comedian and TikTok star Bash The Entertainer and DJ and Producer Nightwave.
Michael won the cash after submitting pictures from his photography project 'Inside Maryhill', which aims to challenge preconceptions about North Glasgow.
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He has honed his craft for years after having started out taking photos using his grandad's camera. Influenced by the likes of legendary 1980s photographer Raymond Depardon, whose work focused on the East End of the city, Michael hopes to showcase what he calls the 'real' Maryhill.
Michael told Glasgow Live: "I was really happy for my project to be picked by one of the three creatives, I was shocked they thought it was worth going forward with. I'm really happy to take it forward as well.
"The project will be using film photography as a medium to dive into the lives of people within Maryhill and go beyond negative stereotypes and the connotations of the area.
"It'll photograph people who work and live there, to try and find subjects that are interesting to take photos of, people who have a story to tell of the area, or their life. That's the basis of it."
And Michael is excited to showcase the place that means so much to him, as generations of his family are from the area. He hopes that 'Inside Maryhill' will give a taster of the true essence of the place.
He said: "My family grew up on Maryhill Road, and I've always had that connection to that area my life so far. I live just a ten minute walk away from there now.
"I think there are people that think it's not a place where you'd want to live in, or it's far away but it's so close to the city centre - I don't think people realise that. It's working class people that live there."
Along with the cash prize, each winner will also receive one-to-one mentoring sessions from three leaders on Scotland’s cultural scene - fashion designer Hayley Scanlan, comedian and Maryhill's TikTok star Bash The Entertainer and DJ and Producer Nightwave.
The three will offer advice, and guidance on how to progress, how to grow and ultimately how to succeed in the creative industries.
And the money has come at a formative time for Michael, who still has a day job and shoots weddings.
He said: "I've always been a photographer. It wasn't until a few years ago that I really wanted to go for it as a career. I shoot weddings as well. In terms of film photography I've always had a film camera, and learned the ropes of shooting on film.
"It's my creative outlet. I really enjoy it.
"Depardon's work of Glasgow is groundbreaking, and reminds me of Maryhill in a way. His work is incredible. I also love Rosie Mathieson's portrait photos as inspiration - her work is mainly portrait photography, but's amazing as well."
Cameron Matthews, Tennent’s Senior Brand Manager said: “We were overwhelmed with the number and quality of applicants the SpotLight Project received. It showed us not only how much this kind of support is needed, but the incredible amount of Scottish talent there is. We all left the judging table so inspired.
“Our five creators represent a whole world of creativities - from sustainable fashion to hip hop, and we’re very excited to see what they achieve over the next year, as well as continuing to facilitate even more of these moments for people, in years to come.”
Tennent’s Light is available on draught and in 330ml bottles at selected bars throughout Scotland, as well in four-packs in ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. For more information visit www.tennents.co.uk.
While we wait on Inside Maryhill to drop, you can find Michael's work at @michaelrankinn
